One of the more unfortunate developments in modern multiplayer is the tendency to lock most of the available weapons, characters and maps behind an RPG-like experience system.

This sort of scheme was popularized by games like Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2, but it’s even crept into games like Bioshock 2. Ostensibly, it offers players the ability to get more slowly accustomed to the freneticism of multiplayer and ramp up their skills over time… but it’s also a frustration to more seasoned multiplayer gamers who don’t want to have to invest dozens of hours to “earn” their full range of tactical options.

If you, like me, have been slow to unlock most of Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer, great news: Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling has just tweeted that a double XP weekend will be coming to Xbox Live soon.